Ribbon cables, on the other hand, have enjoyed widespread adoption among regional and long-haul telephony providers but might still be unfamiliar to some in the electric utility space. Just about anyone in the electric utility industry with any level of exposure to optical fiber products will be familiar with the basic structure of loose tube cable. In contrast, a loose tube cable design has between 2 to 24 individual fibers housed in multiple buffer tubes with each fiber detached from the other. Typically, however, these matrixes, or “ribbons” are bonded together in a group of 12 and placed inside a tube that holds multiple ribbons. A ribbon cable has the individual fibers precisely bonded together in a matrix that might encompass as few as four or as many as 24 fibers. The chief distinction between these two product families is the manner in which the individual fibers themselves are packaged and managed within the cable. Both products perform well in harsh outdoor environments, and both are available in a multitude of configurations, including: all-dielectric, armored, aerial self-supporting, etc. Click here to enlarge imageīoth ribbon cables and conventional loose tube cables are staples of the telecommunications industry and have been around for decades. Outside plant cables, either aerial or underground, get closer to the home. Since most of the fiber used by utilities is deployed in the outside-plant, some of the most common questions center around the selection of ribbon versus conventional loose tube cable designs and where one solution might be more economically viable than the other. So, if it is a given that optical fiber is a reality of the electric utility industry, then it is important for those with responsibility for the management of utility assets to understand some of the basic categories of optical cable products and where those products best fit in the electric grid. The last point is quite a statement considering that fiber is already found on transmission lines and distribution lines, in generating stations, and even in substations.Īll-dry optical cables can reduce preparation and installation times. In the future, new construction and smart grid initiatives promise to expand fiber’s role even farther into electric utility operations. In more recent years, public power companies and an occasional electric cooperative have ventured into fiber-based networking for the benefit of their customers and the generation of additional revenue streams. For over two decades, utilities have used fiber optic media to support their own internal applications. The electric utility industry is increasingly reliant on high speed optical networks to support daily operations.
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